So if it never happened
by Lbeen393
Summary: What if Lily and James never met? If James didnt realize Lily Evans existed? What would their lives be like? Would their friends be them same? Find out what happens! And please remember to review!
1. Damn Bird

Don't you ever wonder what would happen to Lily and/or James if James hadn't seen Lily on platform 9/34, on their first day of school? Would they even meet in school? Well, this is their ironic story. And guess where it begins? On Platform 9 3/4 on September 1st, their first day of school. Actually, our story begins with an owl. Yes, an owl. To be ironic, this was the Grandmother of Hedwig, an owl whom we're all familiar with.

This particular owl just happened to be flying over platform 9 3/4. There wasn't any overhang yet, so when this owl happened to answer to mother nature's call, it dropped onto a young (11 to be precise) James Potter's face. So instead of turning around and seeing Lily, he looked up after the bird had done its business on him, and saw the 'monster' that just ruined the perfect love story.

"Damn bird." James mumbled to himself, as he cleaned off his forehead.

"Hey James!" Sirius yelled to him, as he ran up to his best friend.

"Hey Sirius" James said with a smile. It had been about a month since he had seen his best bud, and that was a very long time for them to be apart. "Wow. I didn't realize how long a month could be." In a parallel universe, James wasn't answering Sirius's friendly 'hello', because he was too busy being struck with wonder and awe at his 'future bride'.

"Yeah! I know! A whole month with my horrible family! I can hardly believe I'm still living!" The friends continued talking about the month they had been apart. They didn't get too far in their conversation, however, because soon the shrill whistle of the Hogwarts express sounded, signaling the boys to get on board.

On the train, they did their best to find a compartment. This was difficult though, because every compartment they looked in, seemed to be full.

At last, they found a somewhat empty compartment. It was at the very back of the train, and there were only two other boys in it.

"Oh, sorry. We thought this might be empty." James said ever so politely when he opened the door and found a boy with sandy blonde hair and wolfish eyes, and one with a nose that pointed and made him look oddly, like a rat.

"That's all right. Are you still looking for a compartment? This one's practically empty. You can sit here if you'd like."

The boy; who was Remus Lupin; replied.

"Thanks!" Sirius, who was behind James pushed past him and sat down next to the boy who resembled a rat.

"Are you sure it's all right?" James asked, again.

"Yes. I'm positive. Now sit down before I change my mind." Remus said, not meaning what he said. (About the 'before I change my mind' part)

James sat down after putting his and Sirius's trunks on the rack above the seats.

"So, it's your first time at Hogwarts too?" Remus asked, trying to get the conversation going.

Now, I know all of you know the answer to this question, because I included it in the reading. Most of you probably know that James, Remus, Sirius and Peter; or should I say Prongs, Moony, Padfoot and Wormtail became best friends. They were the marauders, the troublemakers of the school and the most popular (well, James Sirius and maybe Remus) guys in Hogwarts. But that was in their fifth, sixth and seventh years of course. So right now, we must leave these marauders, to enable them to get acquainted. But how did they become popular? I believe that you will find the answer to this questioning in the next few chapters, and beyond possibly.

So, if James and company were having pretty much the same experience even if he hadn't laid eyes on Lily; or even , for that mater knew she existed; but how was Lily doing?

I think we should start with the alternative: In first year, she met James, but only because he was crazy about her. So, without James being obsessed about her, she didn't know he existed; and therefore didn't loath him. Well, how could she? She had no idea that a human being; much less James Potter, could be so attracted to her. That is, until she met her group of so called 'friends'.

Like James and Sirius, Lily and her best, truest friend; Jade; had a hard time finding a compartment. Unlike the two boys however, they found a compartment near the front of the train, with a group of well-known students. Dare I say it? The popular kids. Yes, they found a seat with the popular kids.

You see, if James had seen Lily on the platform, Lily and Jade would have gotten onto the train as soon as possible, but without that happening, they 'chitchatted' until the last minute whistle called. So they didn't get a good compartment. Well, at least they don't think they did. But this is an alternate universe. So, we can't have any 'buts'. Lily and Jade sat down with the popular kids. And they became popular that fateful day on August 31st.

Let's fast forward to when these first years get to Hogwarts. Of course it was raining, and dark, because it takes a whole day to get to Hogwarts from Kings cross. Hagrid; of course; brought the 'newbies' across the pitch black lake and up to the front oak doors, where they get a first look at Professor McGonagall, and all think how strict she is. But a select few of those students don't realize how close they'll get to her, over the next seven years.

The Sorting went on as usual, Lily and James in Gryffindor together, along with Sirius, Remus and YUCK Peter. But Jade! Poor Jade, she got sorted into Ravenclaw, along with the rest of the first years in that compartment. The look on Lily's face when she realized that she was split up with her best friend, in the ENTIRE world, would've made you so sad. But still, James Potter didn't notice her, and she didn't notice him. As Lily realized that she wouldn't be quite as close with Jade anymore, she also realized that she would need to make friends within her house in order to maintain her sanity. On her way up to bed, she didn't think that her day could've been any worse. But I'm sorry to tell you, tomorrow will be.


	2. Bad Day

**Chapter 2**

Lily shut off her alarm clock as soon as she heard it go off. Unfortunately, she couldn't go back to sleep because sunlight seemed to find its way through her curtains, and she could hear really annoying sounds of birds chirping outside.

_'Damn birds! Why do they always have to be so perky?' _she thought to herself, as she slowly got out of bed. She realized that the night before, she was too down-hearted and tired to care to meet her roommates. So as she opened the curtains to her four-poster, she thought to herself _'Here it goes, I'm going to be living with these people for the next seven years….' _

"Good morning!" Came a very perky voice from the other side of the room. Even perkier; Lily thought; than those blasted birds outside.

"Liz, SHUTUP! Some of us are just waking up, and don't quite appreciate your perkiness this early in the morning!" Said someone from the other side of the bed to the left of Lily.

"Yea, sure Theresa. We could all use a little more perkiness in the mornings! It gets you through the day." Liz replied to Theresa's crankiness.

"Sorry, but I agree with Theresa, and I think its breakfast that gets you through the morning, not perkiness." Lily almost kicked herself. Why did she always have to be the smartass?

"Oh, well then perkiness is what keeps you awake until you get down to breakfast." Liz said, smiling that she came up with a comeback.

"Ugh, Liz I think that I've heard better comebacks from turkey sandwiches." Replied a groggy voice from somewhere near Liz.

"You people are not morning people huh?" Liz asked.

"Apparently not." The other girls in the room said, answering her ridiculous question.

"Arrite, I shot shower first!" Said Theresa, rushing to get into the bathroom.

"Oh no you didn't!" The voice from the other side of the room replied. As both girls got into the bathroom, they were silenced.

"Whoa……" Said Theresa, obviously impressed.

"Yea, I read in Hogwarts, a History that the bathrooms are impressive." Lily suggested, on her way to the bathroom.

"You won't believe it!" Liz exclaimed, coming in, too.

"What is this, party in the bathroom?" Theresa asked; the first of them t get over the shock. Liz, Lily and the other girl just kept staring until Lily had to go make a smart comment again.

"No, just trying to get on with our morning routines." She said, walking into one of the gorgeously tiled showers, which were across from five different glass sinks under a huge floor-to ceiling mirror.

"This really is a castle…isn't it?" The other girl said, getting into the shower (different shower) next to Lily. Theresa was looking at herself in the mirror, before she got into the shower on the opposite side of Lily. The girls each took ten minute showers, and started doing their hair.

"Got any suggestions?" Theresa asked, looking at herself in the mirror. Her long, straight, gorgeous red hair went for a long way down her back, and her green eyes shone brightly, even that early in the morning.

"You look fine already." Replied Lily, truthfully.

"No, no, you got to actually give her advice," explained the other girl, "or she'll keep bothering us."

"Hey! I don't want advice just for the sake for getting advice! I want a real opinion." Theresa said.

"Alright, you're gorgeous just the way you are." Said the other girl.

"Beth! I know that you don't think that!" Scolded Theresa.

"No, you're right. I'd kill for your hair. Put it up in a half-ponytail."

"Bethany! Stop taunting Theresa!" Liz called into the bathroom.

"Yeah! Stop taunting me!" Theresa said.

"Theresa, your hair is ugly. Move so I can fix mine." Beth said, pushing past Theresa to get a better look at herself.

"Alright, let's go! We're going to be late for our first day!" Liz said, leaning against the door watching Lily, Beth, and Theresa fixing their hair.

"Fine fine, c'mon Beth." Theresa said, walking out of the bathroom.

"I'll meet you girls downstairs! I want to get my schedule." Lily said, walking down the spiral staircase into the common room.

Meanwhile…..

"Sirius! LET'S GO! We have fifteen minutes to get downstairs before breakfast ends, and first period starts." James said to Sirius, trying to shake him awake for about the fifth time that morning. Remus and Peter were waiting for them downstairs, and James was already dressed.

"Five more minutes?" Sirius asked, sleepily, as he rolled over.

"We don't have five more minutes! We need to get to the Great Hall now!" James said, giving up and going downstairs. He was halfway down the stairs when he heard Sirius scramble out of bed, and hurriedly get dressed. He met James Remus and Peter YUCK in the common room at about the same time Lily was coming down the stairs. They didn't realize she was there, or for that matter, she couldn't take her eyes off of James. She thought he was the most gorgeous guy she'd ever seen! His hazel eyes had a sparkle to them, which just made her legs melt away. His ruffled, jet black hair suited him so perfectly, and the way he stood up she could tell he was in shape. Like six-pack in shape. She knew then, that she wanted to be the girl he never stopped thinking about. She wanted to be his girlfriend. The thought of 'future husband' didn't come to her mind, as it did James's when he first saw her in an alternate universe, but she immediately had a crush on James Potter. She had fallen for the Potter charm…..hard.

Lily walked down to the Great Hall with the marauders not far behind her. They didn't care too much that she was there, heck, they hardly noticed. They were too busy planning their next prank. All Lily heard about it, was that it had something to do with water balloons. And white shirts, but she couldn't hear the rest, she wasn't even trying to overhear their conversation; she was just concentrating on not falling over her own two feet. When she got to the Great Hall, she slowed her pace a little, and plotted a way to find out where James was sitting, before she sat down. She decided on going over to talk to Jade; at least she could come back to the table to see where they decided to sit for breakfast.

"Jade!" Theresa called, as she walked over to the Hufflepuff table. Her friend looked up from her plate, and a smile broke over her face.

"Lily! I can't believe we got split up!" She said, looking a little down-hearted again.

"That's alright; at least we still go to the same school." Lily said, trying to get Jade to cheer up, if it was only a little bit. But she didn't help at all, and Lily gave up; eager to go back to her own table so she could see where James and his friends had decided to sit.

Breakfast went by quickly for Lily, sitting so close to James and his friends, being able to hear their every word. Her friends joined her five minutes after, and they all got their schedules. Of course, she was in every class of theirs, and she was pretty sure that she was in every class of James's, too.

We will join Lily in Herbology, which was right after her lunch:

"Hey, Lils….can I call you Lils? I like how that sounds. Kind of cute, yet nicknamish….almost like our secret lingo." Theresa said with a little laugh.

"Sure. I don't mind. As long as I get to call you Tesa." Lily couldn't believe how close she and Theresa had gotten, in the past day! In fact, they all had gotten really close, almost like they'd known each other for years.

Theresa wrinkled her nose at the name, she thought it sounded weird, but she said in response:" Sure, but only you guys can. If the rest of the school starts to call me that, you're switching back to Theresa."

"Alrighty then, so who do you think will be in this class with us?" Liz asked.

"Probably everyone that's had classes with us so far." Replied Beth.

The bell rang as soon as they got into herbology; but Remus Sirius and James were late.

"Sorry Professor Sprout, we got lost." James said, making an easy lie as he sat not too far away from Lily.

"That's quite alright Mr. Potter, but I don't want this happening again." Said Professor Sprout.

The rest of the class went fine, with the Professor instructing them on how they should set up their notebooks, and half the lesson being taught. But the worst part of Lily's day was about to come: right after the bell rang that ended Herbology.

"Hey, Sirius! Go long!" James yelled at Sirius, who started running ahead of the rest of the class. When he got to a certain point, he looked over his shoulder at James, who threw a football towards him. Lily didn't notice, of course; because she was used to boys playing muggle sports. But the witches and wizards who were pure blood weren't, they all stopped to watch it. The ball didn't go to its intended mark; it hit Lily right in the face, leaving a big red spot that covered her whole face. She didn't think this was too funny, but everyone else seemed to think it was hysterical. They all laughed at her. And she was almost too mortified to move, even though she did. She picked up her books which she had dropped in surprise, and marched right up to the castle, fuming and extremely embarrassed, that she had made a fool out of herself, in front of James Potter.


	3. The Best of Friends

That night; all four girls in the dorm stayed up late into the night, talking.

"So….do any of us have crushes already?" Liz asked after they had talked for about an hour about snobby Slytherin girls. They all noticed Lily turned bright red at this question, and cornered her.

"Lily…..you know you want to tell us something," Beth said, teasingly.

"No, I don't." Lily replied, shaking her head.

"Guys, stop it. Can't you see you're bothering her? Lils, we won't laugh at you, just tell us." Theresa tried a more conventional way of trying to get Lily to talk.

"Sorry, no-can-do Tesa." Lily replied, still shaking her head.

"Fine. Be a party pooper." Liz said, before continued, "Billy Wagner doesn't look terrible." She said with a smile.

"Oooo! Our little Lizzie has a crush!" Beth exclaimed, almost falling off Lily's bed.

"Yea, sure! I only said that he wasn't the worst looking boy around."

"Yea, and neither is Sirius Black." Beth said.

"Oho! See! I'm not the only one!" Liz exclaimed. During this conversation, Lily and Theresa just started at each other, giggling silently.

"All right! We've got the point! Lily, will you tell us now?" Theresa asked, again.

"Fine," Lily sighed, "James Potter," she mumbled out

"I knew it!" Theresa said, punching her fists in the air. "I knew there had to be a reason why you seemed so upset when you got laughed at in front of him today." She explained.

"Wow, was it that obvious?" Lily asked.

"No, Lils, but your best friends are just good at those kind of things." Theresa said.

"Who said you were me best friends?" Lily said, teasing them. "Of course you are! I can't imagine telling anyone else about this; or becoming this close with anyone this fast." She suddenly remembered Jade. Would she have told her? How fast had they become this close? Were they ever this close? Could Jade really tell 'those kinds of things' about Lily? Could Lily do the same for Jade? The answer to these questions: no. Lily and Jade were never this close. They never would be. Somewhere deep inside of Lily, she knew this; but she didn't want to admit it. She didn't even want to think about that right then. All that mattered to her was that she had suddenly gained three, amazing, fantastic friends. And no one could do anything to take them away from her. They were just that amazing.

**A/n: Sorry it was such a short chapter! After about a week too. But I'm not getting many reviews; therefore I don't think I have many readers. So what's the point of updating? The story will just go unnoticed anyway. Please please PLEASE review! I really would appreciate it! And I really want to know if anyone is actually reading this. **


	4. Lily's mistake

As we grow up, we learn from our mistakes, and gain knowledge and wisdom. But sometimes, our mistakes are so great, that it's hard to pick up the broken pieces; or loose ends that have been a product from our mistakes. Lily had no idea how hard this was, and how lucky she was to be able to pick up the pieces resulting from her terrible mistake, and start just where she left off.

This whole mistake started about the fifth year of Hogwarts. Lily and her friends; Beth, Theresa, and Liz; were as close as sisters; tighter than a fat kid in leather. At this point in, everyone in knew who the cool kids were, and who weren't. The cliques were set, and it just so happened, that Lily and her group of friends were placed in the 'quiet, geeky' group. Lily was tired of this label; in fact, she had enough of labels all together. Her view: Labels were for soup cans, and soup cans only. So she decided to come up with a plot to break the cliques; a plot that when against the laws of teenagers. She was going to become 'in' with the popular kids.

But how was Lily supposed to pull this devious plot out? Get friendly with the leaders of the group, of course: James Potter and Alicia Montgomery. She was going to make sure that she was included in their tight-knit group of friends, and that way, she would have an automatic pass into the popular group.

Should she tell her friends? Would they approve? Would they even let her go on with her plan? Would they care? Lily decided she wasn't going to tell them, because she was too afraid of them not approving, or even approving. Besides, what they didn't know couldn't hurt them, could it?

At lunch, she sat next to Alicia, and started small talk. She was nice enough, and apparently, Lily was one of the cooler geeks. Otherwise, she doubted Alicia would have even looked at her. In Potions class, she was partnered with James, and they were friendly; talking about quidditch and muggle sports, and what they would do over the winter break. She learnt that he stayed at Hogwarts over every break, except the summer one; because his parents worked so much he was home alone all the time. So what was the point of going home to an empty house? He could just stay in Hogwarts wit his friends. That night, Lily owled her parents, telling them that she had so much homework, she decided to stay in Hogwarts over the break. She promised she would see them over spring break, but she figured that she could worm her away out of going home then too.

"So, Alicia….do, would you like to give some beauty tips? I kind of want to look good for a guy….." Lily asked one night, as she and Alicia were the only two sitting in their dorm. Theresa, Beth, and Liz all had Quidditch tryouts, and they hadn't started to notice how close she was getting with Alicia.

"Oh, sure! But Lily, you look pretty as it is." Alicia said as she looked up from her magazine. As she started brushing Lily's hair; now sitting on her bed; she talked to Lily.

"Thanks, but I want to do something to it….other than just putting it up in a ponytail or bun. Something that'll look good, and keep my hair out of my face," Lily explained to Alicia.

"Then I know exactly what to do," Alicia said with a creative smile. Soon after, the girls started talking like they had been best friends for years.

"You know who I hate? That ice queen Kellie Crosby **(A/N: Kellie is a character from Greekchic; Miss Cinderella)**. She is so mean to everyone! Like you, the other day in the hallway, she just shoved you out of her way and knocked all of your books out of your hands. That was uncalled for."

"I know! It was so embarrassing! I thought I was going to die! Why would she do something like that?"

"Because you're pretty; it's obvious she's jealous."

"You really think that?"

"I know I am, but I'm not that witchy." Lily smiled at Alicia's comment. She was nicer than Lily had originally thought.

"So, who is that you want to look good for?" Alicia asked French-braiding Lily's hair.

"Uhm……." Lily stalled, as she thought. Who would be the best to have a crush on? "James Potter," she said with a little smirk. Her plan was working. And she had a way of getting closer to James now too.

"Lily! Why didn't you tell me?" Alicia said with happiness in her voice. "I couldn't think of a better person for you to like!" She seemed to like Lily's choice.

"Yea, but could you do me a huge favor and not tell anyone?" Lily really meant this, she couldn't imagine if anyone else found out.

"Oh, of course not; I wouldn't dare imagine telling anyone." Alicia said. Too bad Lily had no idea what Alicia was _really_ going to do with this bit of information.


	5. One long Winter Break

Winter Break was upon Lily faster than she had expected. It only really occurred to her, as she was saying goodbye to Liz, Beth and Theresa for the two weeks they would be home. She hadn't even started plotting about how she was going to get closer to James; she had already become 'Best Friends' with Alicia.

Little did she know that 'Best Friends' in the popular clique were non-existent. Alicia had spread the word that Lily had a crush on James to all of her friends; who told all of their friends, and that's how the word spread through Hogwarts.

As Lily stood right outside the Great Hall; at the open doors that led outside, watching her friends leave on the carriages, she heard someone call her name. She turned around to see James Potter coming at a slight jog, towards her.

"Hey, Lily," he said. She almost thought she heard a tone of annoyance in his voice. "Why didn't you come to me yourself to tell me that you liked me?" Yeah, she was right. She did hear a tone of annoyance in his voice, which was slowly growing.

"I-what? Who told you that?" Lily asked, very confused all of a sudden. She was sure Alicia wouldn't have told…..and she was the only person Lily told about her crush on James Potter. But wait- hadn't she told Liz, Theresa, and Beth, too? They couldn't have, wouldn't have! But they had been acting kind of funny lately. They seemed less welcome to Lily joining them, and they didn't wait for her to walk to their classes together. They had grown apart from Lily this past week. As soon as their friendship had come, it had gone. But why? With a sudden, dreadful pain she realized that they had grown apart because of her 'friendship' with Alicia. So it had affected their friendship, and in the worst way.

Lily was brought uncomfortably back to the current situation with James.

"I…..why would you care?" She asked, running away from him. She knew she wouldn't do something like that, but she couldn't bear to be in that situation any longer. She ran up to her dormitory, crying.

James just sighed, and walked back to the common room; where his friends were hanging out.

"What's with the long face, Prongsie?" Sirius asked, apparently in a good mood.

"I...Uh…Do I really look that bad?" James asked, taken aback by how well his friends could read him.

"Yeah, it looks like you're …..embarrassed or something." Remus replied, looking up from the thick novel in his lap.

"I guess I am, Moony," James said, sitting down with his friends.

"Really? What happened Prongs?" Sirius asked understanding that his friend needed someone…..or some people to talk to right then.

"Well, apparently that girl…Lily Evans? Likes me, and she told everyone! So I only found out because some girls were talking about it in the hallway…..That was such a rude thing to do! Why just not tell me to my face without letting the whole school know before me? Why embarrass me that bad? Do you really think I want the whole school to know that a freak likes me?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, James! That was a pretty arrogant thing to say! First of all, Lily isn't considered a 'freak' by most of the school, anymore. She's friends with Alicia now. And second of all; if she's friends with Alicia, she probably told Alicia because all girls tell their friends their secrets; and do you think Alicia is the most trustworthy person?" Remus had a lot of good points to make, and he seemed wiser than any of the other first years in the school.

"Thanks, Remus; I think I understand a little bit now. But why tell Alicia if its quite apparent that she's not trustworthy in the first place? And why would she run away from me when I tried to confront her about it?" James was getting upset as he was talking about this.

"Prongs calm down! Only one girl ran away from you. You have nothing to worry about until two girls run away from you." Sirius said, meaning well.

"Yeah, whatever. I think I'm going to go read-"James said, disappearing up the stairs; into his dorm.

"Poor, James," Sirius said, shaking his head.

_"Poor Lily," _Remus thought, correcting Sirius in his head. He realized this was going to be one long winter break.


	6. Very VERY important!

**A/N: Sorry guys, I made a mistake. In the chapter 'Lily's mistake', I reposted the chapter, because I wanted them to be in 5th year; not first. So sorry if this confuses any of you. Another thing: thank you to all the reviewers! I'm so excited you guys are actually reviewing! If anyone has any ideas; whatsoever could you please tell me? I promise I'll try to incorporate it into the story 3 thanks so much again for reviewing!**


	7. Broken heart

Later that week, things were going just as horribly. It was Christmas Eve, and James hadn't talked to Lily since he had tried to 'confront' her. She had stayed as far away from him as physically possible; walking on the other side of the hallway and staying in her dorm all day. She hadn't really talked to Alicia, either. She was just too mad at her. Lily didn't think she would ever trust her again.

"Hey, Lily, what's the matter?" Alicia came into the dorm really quick, to get something; and she apparently realized that Lily wasn't in the best mood ever.

"Nothing," Lily managed to mumble back to Alicia.

"Seriously, Lils. What's bugging you?" She asked, now sitting next to Lily, at the end of her bed.

"I said nothing," Lily said a little louder, now getting annoyed that Alicia 'cared' so much. She was way too much of a busy body; getting into everyone else's business.

"Well, it's a lot of nothing," Alicia said, getting more annoying by the second and not moving off of Lily's bed.

"Well, maybe I don't feel like telling you," Lily said, hoping that that would get her off of her case.

"Why not; I've done everything possible to gain your trust! I thought we were friends?" Alicia reached Lily's boiling point. She went way too far, and pushed way too many buttons. Lily blew up in her face.

"Well, you know what! Maybe if you hadn't told James, then I would have been a little more trusting, and you're wrong- it's your entire fault that I don't trust you! Yea, you DID do something to take all the trust worthiness I had from you away! You told James! And now he thinks that I told the whole school before I told him! And I'm back to square one; because he thinks I'm a looser now. A complete and total looser!" Wow. Red-heads did have short tempers. And Lily was ticked. She burst out of her dorm, feeling tears start to run down her face. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, to realize that the entire common room was staring at her. Apparently they had heard the entire shouting match between her and Alicia. Lily was even more upset than before now, and sprinted out of the common room. With dread, she realized that Remus, Sirius, and James had been the closest to her dorm; they probably heard the whole conversation.

She only realized where her feet carried her when she felt the snow whipping against her face. She quickly found shelter in a tree right next to the nearly frozen lake. She didn't know how long she had been out there when she heard someone calling her name.

"Lily! Where are you? Please, Alicia is a witch! It's a known fact!" Her breath caught in her throat. It was James. He had come looking for her. As Lily jumped out of the tree, her knees gave way beneath her, and her bottom hit the ground; hard. James came rushing towards her.

"Are you all right?" He asked in concern.

"No," Lily answered honestly; new tears streaming down her face. Her bottom was all right, yes. But her friendship wasn't. She had done a terrible thing. She had tried to become popular just so she could say she was popular; not to make friends or be nice to anyone, but for her own good. She was a selfish prat.

"What hurts?" He asked, sitting down next to her.

"My heart," Lily replied. James, understanding now, put his arm around her.

"Yeah, I know. Alicia isn't the nicest person in the world. I can't believe she would do a thing like that to you."

"No, well, that's part of it. But James, I did a horrible thing. I'm so selfish," Lily said, hearing her voice catch in her throat from crying so hard. "I forgot totally about the friends I really needed, and only thought of getting popular. I lost Liz, Beth and Theresa, and gained nothing except for a broken heart."

"I'm so sorry Lily," James said.

"Why would you say that? You didn't do anything."

"I left you heartbroken. I was mean. I should've realized that it was all Alicia."

"No no no! That's not it; I mean; I lost all of my friends, the fake and the real ones. I'm completely alone now." James looked hurt at what she said. Reading into his facial expressions; she quickly realized her mistake. "Oh no, James; the part about you liking me is true; but I don't know; somehow I figured you would never like me back, so I just totally didn't think about that. Actually, I tried not to; I didn't want to be heartbroken. But I still am; and it sucks." Lily felt the warm, salty tears now dripping off her face. She realized that she was shivering now, because she was outside while it was snowing, in a long-sleeve T-shirt and jeans; which were soaked from sitting in the snow.

"Let's get you up to the castle," James said, standing up with her, and putting his sweatshirt on her. She loved the way it smelled just like him. And she realized that she did have a friend; James forgave her about her selfishness because she realized what she had done, and she was sorry for it. She realized that was what trued friends did; forgave each other.


	8. Hiding from Mrs Norris

**A/N: I would specially like to thank Amythestpony for her wonderful ideas. She really helped me out of a potential writer's block. This chapter (and all chapters before and after this) is dedicated to her because she has had…..similar experiences. **

**P.S. Thanks for being so patient! My computer broke, so it was kinda hard to update…..on my 'profile' (if you want to call it that) I tried to tell you……but yea.**

It was only a day until Theresa, Liz, and Beth came back to school. The day after that, classes started again. Lily figured she was going to have a lot of apologizing to do; and she hoped that her friends would take her back. In the meantime, she had to unassociate herself from the popular group of kids. No more talking to Alicia, or James. But James seemed too nice to not talk to him anymore. So maybe she would keep one friend from the popular group; because he was a real friend. She spent the day in her dorm, and the common room; trying to plan out what she would say to her friends the next day. She even started writing letters to them; and writing out her speech. But she wouldn't even get to finish the first sentence when she would decide that she hated it, and throw is out. She groaned as she crumpled up and threw her latest speech into the fire; just as James walked into the common room.

"What's the matter?" He asked, sitting down next to her.

"I'm…..trying to figure out….how to apologize, but nothing I say seems good enough. They're never going to want me as a friend again; I'm a terrible friend, why would they want me back?"

"You're beating yourself up too much. You told me yourself; you wanted to end the whole 'clique' thing, so that's why you started getting closer to the more popular people. That's as good of a reason as any; and I think they would understand where you're coming from. They are going through the same thing, anyway. Since first year most kids have been 'labeled' the same exact way; and treated the exact same way by everyone else. They should realize that you had a good intention; just a bad way to go about it." Lily thought James was the nicest person ever. He had actually convinced her not to worry; that everything was going to be all right. And she figure that he was going to be the only person to do that.

Lily went up to her dorm a little later, and decided to get a head start on apologizing, and write a letter to at least one of her ex-best friends.

_Dear Theresa_,

_I hope that you actually opened this letter, after seeing you decided to write you the last night of break. I want you to know that I'm terribly sorry for everything I did. I made a terrible mistake, and I don't want to make it again. Please let me explain myself in front of you, Liz, and Beth. It would mean a lot to me. After that, though if you still find reason to hate me, I invite you to go on ahead hating me. I'd loose three great friends and I'd be the idiot of the century for letting three wonderful things just slip through my fingers. I really hope that you can forgive me._

_Forever Yours,_

_Lily Evans_

She wrote similar letters to Liz and Beth, and within no time at all; was walking down to the owlery to send the letters on their way. She turned around to go back to the Gryffindor Common room, and saw James standing in the doorway. She jumped a little, because she hadn't realized he was there.

"James-what are you doing here? I thought you were still in the common room…."

"Yea, I decided to take a walk, and I saw you come in here. I figured I'd wait until you were done so we could walk back to the common room together." James Potter- wanted to walk with HER. She couldn't believe her ears. But then the last couple of days events flooded back to her.

"Okay, sure." They started their walk, and just halfway through they saw Mrs. Norris turning the corner a few steps ahead of them. Lily and James looked at each other, both with panicking faces. They couldn't be caught out after hours! They didn't even know it was after hours. They had their reputations to save.

"This way," James whispered quickly, and started to sprint down the corridor to their left. Lily followed him, and was toe to toe with him in a matter of seconds. He turned a corner sharply, and she followed. They ran up a couple of staircases and down various corridors. Lily had no idea where she was, but she thought James looked like he did. He skidded to a stop just in front of a tapestry.

"Ladies first," He said, holding it up to reveal that the wall dipped in; almost like someone took an ice cream scoop and scooped out the wall in that part; so that Lily and James had room to hide behind the tapestry. There wasn't much room, but they both fit. They heard a meow and the pitter-patter if a cat walking down the corridor. They both let out a sigh of breath, not realizing that they had actually been holding their breath.

"That was close," Lily said, looking at James, and realizing for the first time how close they were. Her hands were on his chest, and his were around her waist. There wasn't any space at all between them.

"Yeah, I know," James realized where her and his hands were, and didn't seem to mind in the least bit. Lily; oddly was a little relieved about that. She really did like him, and she didn't want him to squirm at the thought of her touching him, or he touching her.

"Why'd you run anyway? I thought you were the big prankster; getting caught after hours must be something you do daily."

"Oh, well, you were with me for one, and I don't need another detention; my only free night is kept open for quidditch practice." Lily loved the way he smiled; like he was now. It wasn't an arrogant type of smile, more like a wry, kind of comforting grin.

"Oh," was all she could think of to say. After a long, awkward pause she asked, "Do you think we can move now?"

"Oh, yeah. Let's get out of here," James agreed, as they tried to get out from behind the tapestry.

Lily was almost sad that that…….curious….encounter with James Potter had ended. It was almost at the good part. But she knew now that she really did like him, maybe even loved him; and she doubted that he would ever feel the same about her. After all, they had just become friends….really close friends.

James went back to his dorm that night with a lot on his mind. Did he like Lily, or did he not? (That is the question! Lol) He couldn't stop thinking about her, and when he eventually fell asleep he dreamt about her.


	9. Finally able to sleep

**A/N: I lied. I can't wait to put another chapter out. I'm not even going to check my email anymore; I'm just going to write. I could care less if you guys don't care what happens to Lily, but I certainly do! And I can't stop a story halfway through. So if you don't mind, I shall start Chapter 9……..**

**Chapter 9: **

It had been a half hour since Lily and James got back from their little 'expedition' if you could call it that…..And Lily's life had already gotten worse. When they stepped through the portrait hole, Kellie Crosby sneered at them, and started mercilessly teasing Lily.

"Look who it is, everybody! Looser Lily and James Potter! Well, how much did you have to pay him to snog you Evans, either it was a whole lot of money, or Potter is definitely too desperate to be considered 'hot' or 'cool' anymore." Lily could feel her cheeks grow red, as she walked (practically ran) up to her dorm to get away from Kellie and her supporters…..well, her goons.

"That wasn't too great of an insult Kellie, I would've expected more from you. I believe you're loosing you're touch…." Gosh! Did James have to egg her on like that? It was already bad enough that Kellie was going out of her way to be rude to her; did he have to bring more attention to the situation?

"Oh yeah, well since when have you stood up for Evans, Potter? What is this, you're newfound crush or something? How can you even stand being in her presence outside of class?"

"Well maybe I enjoy friends' company who don't go off and tease other people, just to make them feel good. Lily doesn't need that type of egoistical support; she has REAL friends," James counter-attacked. Lily was desperate to get to her bed now.

"Oh yea?" Kellie got up from where she was seated next to her friends, and stood in front of James; her face inches from his, a look of murder in her eyes.

"Yeah!" James shouted at her, and turned on his heal, and skipping 3 steps at a time; made his way up to his dormitory. Lily just stood at the base of her staircase, frozen. James had stuck up for her…..well, it was for himself too; but he stuck up for her! He defended her! No one had ever done that for her. Lily felt a smile creep across her face as she felt more gratitude toward James than she had for anyone else before.

"What are you smiling at, Evans?" Kellie sneered at her. Without saying anything in return, Lily just gave Kellie the most disgusted look she could possibly manage, and stalked up the staircase to her dorm, noiseless.

It was later that night, and Lily found she couldn't sleep. She had been lying on her back, staring at the ceiling since she had tried to fall asleep; which was hours ago. She thought that at any second, the sun would start to come up. But it wouldn't; she looked at her clock which read only 1:00 in the morning, not 5:00 like she had hoped. She decided to go down to the common room, and try to read to lull herself to sleep.

She had been reading for only a half hour, yet Lily was finished with her book already. She looked around the common room, not ever really appreciating its beauty. The red and gold matched perfectly with pictures and tapestries of lions, and brave knights conquering foreign lands and defeating dragons. After a while of admiring the Gryffindor charm in the common room, Lily grew bored with this, too. She decided that she needed to talk to James, to thank him for what he had done for her only a couple of hours earlier. She was halfway up the staircase to the boy's dormitory, when she heard the door creak open. When she looked up to see who it was, the door just closed again. There was no one there. Lily felt shivers run up and down her spine.

"W-Who's there?" She asked, obviously not expecting to get an answer. And she didn't.

James couldn't sleep. He tried counting dragons, but he lost count after 100; he had tried pacing, but was scolded by a tired Remus and Sirius. He was desperate to finally get to sleep. He took out the marauder's map, and decided to see if anyone else was up in these wee hours of the morning.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," He said, his wand out. After a few minutes of searching the map, he started to talk to himself again. "Lily Evans, why are you out of bed?" He got up, put on a T-shirt over his boxers, and slipped his invisibility cloak on. He crept over to the door, and opened and closed it quickly, as not to let Lily see that it was opening in the first place. But, when he turned around, Lily was only a couple of steps from him, on the boys' dormitory staircase! He almost jumped in surprise.

"W-Who's there?" She stuttered. James thought she looked so cute, standing there, frozen out of fear. He shook his head to get these thoughts out of his mind. He walked down the stairs, and slid past Lily, who felt his movement next to her. She let out a little squeak, and rushed down the stairs, almost knocking James over at the bottom. She scrambled into the armchair she had left her book in.

James walked to a shadowy corner of the common room, and discarded his cloak, leaving it on the floor.

"Scared of things that go 'bump' in the night?" He asked, causing Lily to practically jump out of her seat.

"James! Don't do that! Are you trying to scare me to death?" Lily cursed under her breath.

"Sorry! Why are you up at 1:00 in the morning, anyway?"

"I could ask you the same question," after a silent pause, both of them said,

"Couldn't sleep, you?" and laughed at the irony at them saying the same thing at the same time. James sat down on the sofa adjacent to Lily's armchair.

"Uh, James?" Lily started her 'speech' of thanks meekly.

"Yes, Lily?"

"Thanks for sticking up for me back there. I really appreciated it. No one's ever done something like that for me before," she said, blushing, and looking down at her feet.

"Well, you're welcome, because no one has ever been so nice to me without just wanting to use my friendship for they're own good," James said, a little sadly.

"Really?"

"Well, besides Remus and Sirius of course, but they're also family friends," James said with a grin at the thought of his two best friends.

"Oh," it was Lily's turn to be a little melancholy, and the memory of all the great times her and her friends had over the past six years. But she had thrown those six years down the drain, with a month or two and some really terrible 'friends' she had made.

"Lily, they'll take you back; and you know it. Everything's going to be fine," James tried to reassure her; reading her mind. Lily felt the tears start to fall, and hopped over to James's couch, resting her head on his shoulder. He took her in his arms, and continued to reassure and comfort her.

"Shhhhh…..everything's going to be just fine. Just as long as you're sincere and truthful in you're apology." After a few minutes of his comforting, Lily calmed down. She took her head off his shoulder, and smiled at him.

"Thanks," She said, simply.

"Thanks? What did I do?"

"You've been my friend even though I did some pretty terrible things. Even though I humiliated you because I told Alicia I liked you. I know that even if Liz, Beth, and Theresa won't take me back as their friend, you'll always keep me."

"You're welcome," James replied, his voice hardly above a whisper. They started to lean into each other, getting closer and closer……….

The portrait hole opened, and Lily and James never got to kiss each other. They were startled, and turned to see who had come into the common room at this hour of the night.

"Theresa! Liz! Beth!" Lily exclaimed, jumping off the couch. Then she remembered that they were mad at her.

"LILY!" All three of them exclaimed back, knocking her back onto the couch beside James, in one giant group-hug.

"We missed you so much!" Beth said, the first to speak.

"We couldn't wait to come back….."

"And see you!" Liz and Theresa finished each other's sentence.

"I….I thought you guys were….ticked at me," said Lily, her voice getting smaller and smaller as she finished the sentence.

"We got your letters, silly! And we figured something was up! We've known you for what, six years? We knew that you don't normally act like that," Theresa said. Lily smiled, and hugged them back.

"I'm so glad you guys are back." She said. Lily knew now, that she'd be finally able to fall asleep, and James too.


	10. Lily's Knickers

**A/N: Sorry! I am so so sorry! You have no idea how sorry I am for not updating this story sooner! I know I shouldn't really be using excuses, but over the summer my computer that I write all these stories on totally broke, and with two brothers who are addicted to war craft its hard getting computer time…and now its going to be even harder to update that the school year is starting again…8th grade here I come! Plus, my parents are seriously considering sending me to catholic high school….so I have to take that admissions test, and I'm all stressed out. But I know that no matter what, I will always love writing, so you have that to be comfort. Plus, I never intend to end a story halfway through so…even though I haven't updating this one or Best Friends until the End x3 in a while, its cause I lent the notebook to my good friend, and I have the whole story written in there. This one, I just make up as I go along ).**

**Without further ado…..My long awaited update…..**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything you recognize…sorry I forgot to put one up on all the other chapters!**

Lily woke up because the sun was in her eyes. It was Saturday morning, and the rest of her dorm mates where just starting to wake as well. But before any of them knew it, someone burst into the room and started yelling.

"Come on! Wake up! It's a gorgeous day to play quidditch! You girls are definitely missing out!" Lily sat straight up in her bed and pulled her covers up to her chin as she recognized the voice that belonged to James Potter.

"James! What are you doing in here?" Lily yelled as Liz, Theresa and Beth all woke up; and seeing James, had the same reaction Lily did.

"I just came t wake four lovely young ladies, so that we might-" But James was cut off by Lily getting up and pushing him out the doorway.

"We'll be down in a few minutes" She said, as she could see James's eyes taking in her…..pajamas. "James! Eyes up here!" Lily yelled at him, pulling his chin up so that he was looking at her straight in the eye. Only after she had done this did she realize how close their faces were. Only a few more inches and they'd be….No, Lily was NOT thinking about that!

"We-we'll be down in a little while," Lily repeated, feeling awfully awkward at the moment.

She closed the door behind him, and turned around, leaning against the door fir support.

"Oh…my…GOD! LILY! That was a total awkward situation you just shared…with...JAMES POTTER! "Beth screamed, jumping off her bed.

"Yeah…" Was all Lily could reply. She was in a daze, replaying the scenario, and thinking about what could've happened…..

Gosh, that's two times in one day, and its only 10! She definitely had to get James off her mind. She stared into space for a few more minutes until the sound of her friends getting dressed pulled her out of her daze.

"What are you guys doing?"

"What do you think we're doing? We're going to go play quidditch with James! And yes, you are coming." Theresa said, pulling a turquoise t-shirt over her head.

"I…am?" was all Lily could say, as she unsurely walked back over to her bed.

"Yes, and wear something sexy." Liz said, only joking.

"What?" Lily, Theresa, and Beth all asked in confusion at the same time.

"Nothing," Liz mumbled, pulling her jean jacket over her brown shirt and khakis.

"Okay, I think we're all ready." Beth said a few minutes later, just as she was about to open the dorm door.

"Hold on! Getting a pair of pants on!" Lily said, jumping around with one leg in the pair of jeans and another on the floor. She had just decided to get dressed moments before, as she was still daydreaming about the _dreamy _James Potter. Oh gosh, that's the third and fourth time today, Lily, you've got to stop!

"Oh, who cares? James has seen you in your underwear already today," Beth said, pulling the door open and walking past a bewildered James Potter with his hand up about to knock on the door.

Lily just happened to fall down in shock, and Theresa and Liz stood there, in hopeless giggles. The scene was straight out of a Friends episode (**A/n: would that be straight out of a Friends episode?)**

"I'll…..just…w-wait downs-stairs," James stuttered, turning around and sliding down the girls' dormitory staircase.

The three of them-Liz, Theresa, and Lily-just stood on their dorm, staring at each other laughing hysterically at the ironic situation.

"C'mon Lily, before Sirius sees you in your underwear," Liz said giggling uncontrollably.

"Now THAT would be embarrassing," Lily said joking. James seeing her in her underwear twice that day was already embarrassing enough.

After Liz and Theresa picked out a gray V-neck shirt and a pair of worn, faded jeans with converse, the three of them walked down the spiral staircase that led to the Gryffindor Common room. Lily pulled her hair into a ponytail as the walked.

"Shoot me now please," Liz whispered to Lily, Theresa and Beth as they followed James down to the quidditch pitch.

"Come on, Liz! Quidditch isn't THAT bad," James defended his favorite sport; and obsession.

"No, I personally love the sport; you're just too obsessed for your own good," Liz responded cheekily."

"I take offense in that," James said playfully, as everyone started laughing.

About a Half Hour later…….

"Go for the goal Lily!1 GO!" It had been a little while since they started their game of quidditch, and Lily had actually taken to the sport quite well. She and James were on a team, against Liz Theresa and Beth. Lily and James were down by 1 point; and Lily was racing towards the goal…hoops?

Lily sped faster and faster, and Beth got in front of the goal, in attempt to stop her from scoring. With 10 feet to go, Lily faked the ball left, and threw right. She made the winning goal.

"Yes! I knew you'd be good at it!" James said after they all started heading towards the broom shed to put their brooms away. Lily was grinning ear to ear. This was the first sport she was actually good at. Liz had soccer, and Theresa and Beth were amazing cross-country runners. She was actually possibly considering going out for the quidditch team. She wouldn't make a half-bad chaser.

"Well, I did have a good teacher," Lily said back to James, flirting a little. Of course, Liz, Beth, and especially Theresa noticed this.

"Why thank you," James accepted the compliment.

"So….what are we doing next? We have all day you know," Liz cut in, not wanting to have them start flirting even more. But she was right; it was only about 1:00 in the afternoon.

"Maybe we should go get lunch?" Theresa suggested.

"I'm loving that idea," Lily agreed, and they all headed up to the castle for lunch.

**A/n: Again, I'm terribly sorry for the long wait. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I tried to make it long, and funny…but I'm afraid I've failed miserably at both. Next chapter will have some more plot development, I promise. This chapter…was, as hopefully you guys can see, to start showing some L/J action; if its only some. **


	11. Liz's Yellow Bikini

**Disclaimer: I do not own a thing! Got it? Do you think I own Harry Potter? Yeah. Right. That's why I'm totally making up fanfictions about it!**

**A/n: Woah. I'm starting this chapter the same day I updated for the first time in a long time. The updates will hopefully be about every1-2 weeks, so try to be patient if anyone is still reading this! I've got great ideas, with the help of Amysthestpny. She has AMZING ideas and I'm so lucky to be able to get her help on this. Thanks to Reading Robyn for reviewing so soon and asking me to update! Lol**

"Okay. We're done with lunch….what do we do now?" Lily asked as they walked out of the Great Hall.

"I dunno, it feels like a hanging out kinda day," James said, shoving his hand into his pockets.

"Yeah, I totally agree. Let's go sit down by the lake," Liz said.

"I've got an even better idea! Let's go swimming in the lake! It's such a beautiful day out; and I'm still kinda sweaty from that game of quidditch," Lily said.

"Great idea Lils! James, we'll meet you down by the lake in five," There said as the four girls ran upstairs to their dormitory to change into their bathing suits

In the girl's Dorm:

"What bathing suit should I wear?" Beth asked everyone, holding up a pink bikini in one hand, and a blue one in the other.

"Not your pink one," Theresa said, not even looking up from searching for her bathing suit.

"Theresa, we all know you have something against pink; but I'm not asking about the color…..which one do you think I look better in?"

"I dunno…….I think you'd look good in the halter one," Lily said, looking up temporarily from searching through her trunk.

"Hey Lils, having trouble finding your bathing suit?"

"Yeah, I thought I brought one this year, but I guess I didn't; you guys are gunna have to go have fun swimming without me."

"Nope. We're not leaving you out of this one! You're coming swimming with all of us, or no one is going to go swimming,"

"Ooooookay, but where am I supposed to find a bathing suit now?"

"Oh! Pick me!" Liz said, jumping up and down with her hand raised.

"Iz, may I remind you that we're not in class anymore; you don't have to raise your hand!" Theresa said.

"Sorry! But I have one that's too small for me now; it'd fit Lily perfectly!"

"But Liz, we're the same size."

"Noooooo. I grew over vacation; my boobs and thighs are too big now, but you're still skinny as a stick."

"Fine, where is it?"

"Right here," Liz said, handing over a yellow bikini.

"Woah, Iz, are you sure you still don't fit into it? You aren't exactly fat either." Theresa said.

"Yeah, I'm positive…I think I got a little taller since vacation, too. It's been about two months."

"Whatever you say…."

"How does it look?" Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at Lily. She looked amazing! The bathing suit fit her perfectly; it wasn't too tight and it wasn't too small.

"Lils! Woah! Babe alert!" Liz said, whistling like a guy would.

"Thanks, Liz. Are you sure it's alright that I borrow your bathing suit?"

"Of course! If it looks this good on you, you can keep it! I'm not really into yellow, myself,"

"Thanks Liz

Down At the Lake:

It took the girls a little while longer than they had expected to get dressed. James was already down by the lake, in his bathing suit, waiting for them.

"Where have you girls been? He asked, apparently they had made him wait a little longer than anticipated.

"Sorry, James. We were just helping your girlfriend find a bathing suit," Liz said, without skipping a beat. But her comment didn't go unnoticed by James or Lily.

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"She's not my girlfriend!" They both shouted at the same time. When they realized this, they both blushed, and couldn't feel but a little hurt by what the other said.

_Does he really not like me?_

_Can she even think about me that way? Or are my feelings one-sided?_

"Jeez, calm down guys! I was just kidding! Now are we going to go swimming, or what?" Liz asked, stripping her outer clothes off, and diving right in. The others followed quickly.

"You coming, Lily?" James asked her after a few minutes, when they both found that they were the last ones still standing on the shore.

"Yeah, I'm going to put some suntan lotion on first…you go ahead, I'll be in in a second," Lily said, giving James a reassuring smile.

"All right, but if you're not in the water in five minutes, I'm throwing you in," James said with a simple grin. Not a cocky one; a friendly almost flirty kind of smile.

They parted, and as soon as Lily sat down to start putting suntan lotion on, a bunch of 'pops' as her friends liked to call them, walked up to her.

"Hey Evans," Alicia sneered at her with her cronies surrounding Lily.

"Oh, hey Alicia," Lily said, either trying to hide her fear, or being completely oblivious to Alicia's tone of voice.

"What, are you clueless, you little mudblood? Did you actually think you could get away with it?"

"Get away with what?" Lily looked up, realizing that she was surrounded for the first time.

"Flirt with my boyfriend and get away with it," Alicia said, taking out her wand.

In the water:

James was having fun splashing around with Liz, Beth and Theresa. They were all friends now, good friends too. It's not like James totally forgot about Remus and Sirius; they were just acting distant recently. They rather hang out with the 'in' crowd than have real friends. And James was sick of those snobs that thought they could be trusted. What a joke.

"James, wheres Lils?" Theresa asked after a little while of splashing.

"Oh, she's just putting some sun tan lotion on," James said, remembering Lily's excuse for not coming in the water right away.

"That's an awfully long time to be putting suntan lotion on…." Liz said, looking in the direction of the beach.

"Where is she? And who are those kids in a circle over there?" Beth pointed out, but before she could finish her sentence, James was sprinting, or swimming, towards the shore.

"Get away from her! What did she ever do to you?" James yelled as he got onto the beach. Alicia turned around at the sound of his voice, her wand drawn.

"We're just teaching Evans, here a lesson, aren't we Snape?" James's anger rose as he saw the greasey-haired waste of air stepped away from the crowd around Lily.

"Your mudblood girlfriend is way out of line, Potter. She has no right speaking; or even flirting with the likes of a pureblood."

"Who said that was for you to decide?"

"The Dark Lord won't have it."

"But I'm not on the Dark Lord's side!" James started yelling at this point; he could see the fear in Lily's eyes.

Alicia rounded back on Lily, wrenching her wrist up, pulling Lily to her feet. James saw Lily was in pain; and he couldn't stand it.

"Let her go!" He yelled. He couldn't let them hurt her; he would never forgive himself.

**A/n: I know, I'm a terrible person. I'm leaving you with a cliffhanger until next week. Any thoughts/ comments? Feel free to review!**


	12. Alicia Likes James!

**A/N: Ooookay, I left you guys in a cliffie, but because I'm updating (strangley) during the week, you'll most likely read this chapter & the last chapter together. Reviews would be extremely appreciated!**

"Let her go!" James yelled. He couldn't let them hurt her; he would never forgive himself.

"Awww, is James afraid for his mudblood girlfriend?" Alicia sneered at him, as Snape immobilized Lily with a spell.

"Lily!" He yelled, before Snape started to drag her outside the circle of popular kids. James scrambled from the edge of the water, in an attempt to get Lily from Snape's hands; but he was stopped by Alicia.

"Wow, you really do care about her," Alicia said, finding out about one of James's rare weaknesses.

"That's not for you to know," James snarled at her, pushing past. But Alicia had her plan. She attempted once to hex James; but failed. So she opted for plan B: to disarm him. If he didn't have his wand, he wouldn't know how to defend himself and Lily. But what Alicia didn't realize, was that there were more ways to do serious damage to another person.

James didn't even realize when he was unarmed by Alicia. He just kept his pace towards Snape and Lily, and reached Snape just as outside the circle of snickering 7th years. Of course, Snape stopped in his tracks as soon as he saw James as close as he was to him. He definetly didn't expect this. The way Alicia explained her 'plan' to him, was that he was to take Lily away from the circle they had made around her, near that tree that James always sat under, and hex her until Alicia gave the word to stop. Severus didn't expect her to ever give the word to stop; and he planned to hex her until her death. So when he realized that James had gotten past Alicia, he had to improvise. He pointed his wand to Lily's forehead (just like a gun) and said,

"James, you come any closer, and your mudblood gets it." Of course, James stopped as soon as Snape pointed his wand directly at Lily. But it only took him a few seconds to think about what to do next.

James threw a punch at Snape, knocking the wand out of his hand. Lily backed away from Snape, and then thought better of the action. She figured she should help James; even though he did seem to be doing just fin on his own:

He had knocked the wind out of Snape, and he was now practically passed out on the ground. The popular kids that had made the circle around her; well the ones that figured they could hold their own against James; had come after him. Of course this was very few, so he only had to beat off about 4 or 5 7th year boys; who were in quidditch shape. But what Lily saw was the most important thing out of that whole scene; Alicia had turned around to face James, and was now slowly pointing her wand at him; as if to decide whether to hex him or not. Lily's mind then clicked. Alicia had told James that she liked him because Alicia knew what his reaction be, and she figured it would ruin Lily's chances to get James. Alicia told him to ruin Lily's chances because Alicia liked James. It was all quite obvious then, but Liyl suspected that Alicia was working for Voldemort, and he had instructed her to do away with James. But Lily couldn't let Alicia do that! It would be a terrible mistake; plus Lily couldn't imagine life without James. He was her everything.

Lily walked in between Alicia and James

"I don't think you should do that," Lily stated in a very calm voice.

"How do you know what I'm planning on doing?" Alicia asked with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"Because I know. I know who you're working for; that you like James; that you were told to kill him. And I also know that a 7th year student would have to be very advanced in the art of Defense against the Dark Arts; and hexes; to perform a working Avada Kedavra. So the most you would do is put him into a coma." Alicia looked shocked at what Lily said. She lowered her wand; but only slightly.

"So? So what if I like James; you have him already. I want to kill him because my Lord told me to do so. What he wants; I want. And I **can **produce a proper Avada Kedavra; I have already. Would you like me to practice before I kill him on you? Or will you step aside like a smart mudblood to watch your betraying boyfriend die before he even hits the ground." Alicia had regained her confidence; and she meant business. That's why Lily grabbed the wand out of Alicia's hand, and tackled her to the ground. The girls had a full-out fist fight that ended when James pulled Lily off of Alicia.

"Come on Lily, she's not worth it." Lily looked up at James's face. It had various cuts and scrapes all over; but the worst was a gash on his cheek. She hugged him as soon as it sunk in that he was actually still alive. She didn't realize it until then; but those teens were trying to kill both of them; it wasn't just an attempt at scaring her and bullying. She was really afraid for James's life.

"What happened? It was just a fistfight. You're okay. Let's get out of here," James said as they met up with their shocked friends (who weren't very far away) and walked back to the Gryffindor common room.


	13. iloveyou

**A/n: Wow! I cant believe I'm starting chapter 13 already! Ooookay this is unusual….this is the second time I'm updating this story in the middle of the week. Well, at least I'm starting this chapter Monday morning, it might not get done until tonight, and some of you may not read it until Tuesday or Wednesday. **

**Arrite; screw that! I started this chapter a while ago&& I'm trying to finish it before I loose some of youu from reviewing D cause I really do appreciate those reviews…and you know who you areee!**

When they all got back to the common room, no one was there. But of course it was a beautiful day, and most students were outside somewhere, or in Hogsmeade. The 7th years just didn't want to go this time. I guess they had enough of Hogsmeade trips for a while.

"Lily, are you okay?" Was the first thing out of Theresa's mouth when everyone caught their breath. They ran from the great hall, just in case Alicia and her gang decided they didn't have enough, and came after them again.

"I-I think so," Lily replied a little unsurely. "James, what about you, are you okay?" Lily said taking a few steps closer to James.

"Don't worry about me, Lils. I'm fine," James said, looking down at her with a slight grin.

"You're all bloodied up! Look at that gash on your arm!"

"I've suffered worse."

"We should go to the hospital wing."

"We should stay right here." Lily looked at James puzzled.

"Why? It could be really bad and we have no way of knowing how bad it really is. We need to tell someone what they did!"

"That's the thing Lily; we can't. They might come after you again." Lily froze at James's last statement. _She realized he really cared about her. _He wasn't thinking about himself; he was just concerned for her safety.

"Then what do we do?" Lily asked, not realizing that silent tears were slipping down her face.

"Well first, you have to stop crying." James said, wiping the tears from her cheek with his thumb. "And I think this would be the perfect time…….to start homework." He said with a grin. Lily laughed a little.

"Wow; homework? On Saturday afternoon? What has gotten into you James Potter?" Lily asked mockingly.

"It's your entire fault; you've been influencing me too much!" James said playfully.

The five of them sat down and did their homework for a good hour or so. If a few of them were doing the same assignment; they would do it together and Lily ended helping almost everyone with some assignment or another. They all turned to her when they were having trouble with something. James took advantage of this to say something witty. You will find out soon enough what I mean.

"Hey Lils? I know this'll be the third time I'm asking you for help; but I don't quite understand the Charms lesson from yesterday and therefore I have no idea what this essay Flitwick wants us to write about has to be on." James said, looking at Lily with puppy dog eyes.

"Okay. Well, it's the banishing charm…." But James never heard a word more of what Lily said about the banishing charms they had learnt in Charms yesterday. He already knew it, and had his essay done.

James stared dreamily at Lily for a while; until he realized she had stopped explaining. He stretched, and yawned and started his second essay for Professor Flitwick. As Lily started helping him with it, and bending over his parchment to help him; he stopped her mid-sentence.

"Hey Lily?"

"Mhmm," was all she said in reply, because she was re-writing some of James's words and making them sound more like a 7th year wrote them.

"You're beautiful and…Iloveyou," James said so quickly that Lily didn't realize what he had said until a few minutes later.

Before anyone could comment about what he just said to Lily, James rather quickly again, "I'm awfully tired all of a sudden; I think I'll go to bed now." And with that, he dashed up to his dorm.

When he was gone for about five minutes; Lily looked up from his essay with her mouth wide open, to look at Liz, Beth and Theresa whose facial expressions mirrored hers.

"Did-did he just say w-what I think he said?" Lily asked them quite unsurely.

"I believe so," Liz said in reply; while Theresa and Beth just nodded their heads.

"D-do you really think he loves me?" Lily asked; her words getting stuck in her throat.

"What do you think-" But Theresa never got to finish her sentence; because at that instant the portrait hole opened and Alicia and her crew that were in the Gryffindor house entered the common room.

"Why if it isn't Icky Evans? (**A/n: trying to go for alliteration; for those of you who don't know what it is; LOOK IT UPP…not quite sure if that's it….E and I sound alike in that instance, right?)**"

Lily and her friends ignored Alicia; and started to pack up their books. But Alicia got in the way of that. She put her hand on the book Lily was just picking up from the table; and prevented her from putting it in her backpack.

"What do you want?" Lily said with a raised voice. It wasn't quite yelling yet; but just a step below that.

"Ooo! Evans is getting snappy with me? What, is it past your bedtime or something?"

"Leave me alone," Lily said; knocking Alicia's hand out of her way; and stuffing that last book in her backpack. Lily threw the bag over her shoulder and tried to follow her friends up their dormitory stairs; but Alicia grabbed her shoulder as she was turning and forced Lily to look at her.

"Stay away from Potter, and we'll leave you and your weird friends alone." Alicia said in a very threatening way.

"First of all; his name is James; second; I will do whatever I want, and if you hurt my friends I will personally make sure you never see the light of day again; and thirdly; I do remember saying, **LEAVE ME ALONE**," Lily had shoved Alicia away from her; and rushed up the dorm stairs. But she didn't get to the top without Alicia trying to stop her with some curse….

Meanwhile; James had heard Lily's shouting and of course stepped outside his dorm to see who was bothering her. He had every intention of pounding whoever wasn't leaving her alone into a pulp. But what he saw scared the hell out of him.

**A/N: dun dun DUNNN I know; I'm cruelly evil! IM SORRY but the first few to review will find out WHY I left out on a cliffie. Hope you liked it! constructive criticism is always appreciated; no matter how mean you are! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW**


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